Men’s Soccer Ranked 16th in Preseason by D3kicks.com

Aug. 16 - (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) Carnegie Mellon University’s men’s soccer team found a spot in the D3kicks.com top-25 preseason poll as announced August 15. The Tartans are ranked 16th and are one of four University Athletic Association (UAA) foes to make the poll.

The University of Rochester (seventh), Emory (Ga.) University (15th) and University of Chicago (25th) are the other UAA teams ranked. The Tartans tallied 193 points, four behind Emory, as Rochester recorded 439 and Chicago 69.

Carnegie Mellon finished second in the UAA in 2005 after compiling a 7-2 record, including a 1-0 overtime win at Emory University to propel them into the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight year. After a 4-3 double overtime loss to Fredonia State (N.Y.) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Tartans finished with a 13-3-1 record. Joining the Tartans with a NCAA Tournament berth was the University of Rochester, Emory University and the University of Chicago, the most in Association history.

Carnegie Mellon will look to make a seventh consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, as they start the 2006 campaign Saturday, September 2 at 7:30 p.m. on the resurfaced turf of Gesling Stadium.

The top 25 poll at D3kicks.com is voted on by a selected panel of 23 sports information directors across the country, as well as the two creators of the website. Each of the voters rank what they think are the best 25 teams in order. Each team received 25 points for 1st, 24 for 2nd, etc. Ties are awarded to the team with more first place votes, if the teams have the same number of first place votes, then it is left as a tie.

The poll is the only Division III college soccer poll in the nation that includes every team in Division III college soccer. Also, the poll is the only DIII soccer poll that does not require a listing fee to be eligible for votes.